Real gone kid? Chelsea defender Ashley Cole set to open talks with Madrid and PSG

In demand: Cole will have his pick of clubs in the summer (Image: Mike Hewitt)

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Real Madrid and Paris ­Saint-Germain will this week open talks with Ashley Cole about a ­summer move.

But Cole may decide to keep his options open, with his Chelsea contract due to expire at the end of the season and Manchester City and Manchester ­United monitoring the situation.

Cole is allowed to speak to foreign clubs from Tuesday and Real and PSG will not waste any time in beginning negotiations. Left-back Cole is able to sign a pre-contract agreement with an overseas club or could wait until the summer to make a free transfer switch to one of Chelsea’s rivals.

But he has not yet resigned himself to leaving Stamford Bridge and will consider an offer if Chelsea produce a U-turn and better the one-year extension that was rejected.

Real and PSG are both willing to give 32-year-old Cole a three-year contract and uncertainty over the futures of managers Jose Mourinho and Carlo ­Ancelotti is not thought to present a major obstacle.

United made a tentative enquiry about Cole in the summer after refusing to meet Everton’s £15m asking price for Leighton Baines.